This invention relates to screwdrivers and particularly to screwdrivers having multiple bits and a handle for storing the bits.
Screws are available to cabinet makers, mechanics and others in a number of different configurations to suit different uses. The most common of these are the slotted head having a single diametric slot, a "Phillips" head having a cross-shaped recess and a "Robertson" head having a square recess.
Because of these different types of screws there is a need for a screwdriver which provides a choice of blades and which has storage means for the multiple blades to prevent their loss.
Multiple bit screwdrivers having various bit-storing means are known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,327,790 (Stevens et al, 1982) discloses a screwdriver comprising a handle having four screwdriver blades pivotally connected adjacent one end. The blades may be pivoted from a stored position alongside the handle to an operative position in advance of the handle. A locking device locks the blade in an operative position and comprises a disc rotatably mounted on the one end of the handle with a slot to engage the blade. The slot has a radial portion and a circumferential position so that the blade first enters the radial portion and the disc is then rotated to hold the blade in the circumferential portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,607 (Mellinger, 1981) discloses a segmented handle characterized by an upper gripping member having an opening which partially extends therethrough. At least one lower gripping member is positioned adjacent the upper gripping member and has an opening extending therethrough to permit communication with the opening in the upper gripping member. An apparatus for releasably securing the gripping members in a fixed, coaxial relationship is positioned on adjacent portions of said members. Alternatively, the above apparatus may be disposed in the opening of the upper gripping member.
Most prior screwdrivers having bit storage means in the handle utilize a longitudinal bore in which the bits are placed in an orientation such that the long axis of the bit is substantially parallel to the long axis of the screwdriver. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,119 (Elmore, 1981) provides a hand tool of the type including a shaft having on one of its two opposite ends a handle and on the other of its two opposite ends socket means for selectively receiving and holding a removable tool tip with means to be used in combination with it for storing a plurality of removable tool tips. Basically, the tool tip storage means comprises a generally cylindrical storage member having a bore along its long central axis that is mounted on the tool shaft for slideable movement between the tool handle and socket means. The storage member also has a first surface that faces the socket means and is engaged by yieldable means that encircles the tool shaft and extends between and is compressed between the first surface and the socket means. The storage member further has a second surface opposite from its first surface that is provided with openings into a plurality of chambers which are radially and angularly spaced apart around its central bore and are aligned generally parallel to the long central axis of the tool shaft. The chambers each have a width and depth sufficient to slideably receive and store any tool tip intended to be removably received and held by the socket means. The chambers each extend toward the first surface of the storage member from one of the openings in the second surface thereof, with that second surface being yieldably urged away from the socket means and into engagement with a generally complementary surface of the tool handle by the yieldable means.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,430 (Jansson et al, 1980) discloses a rotatable hand tool, especially a screwdriver or other rotating tool for screws or nuts. The tool is of the kind having cavities in its handle for storing at least one, or usually several tool bits, which can optionally be attached to a holder attached to and turned by the holder. Such bits can, for example, constitute screwdriver tips, hexagonal socket keys and hexagonal sockets. The handle consists of two main parts, of which one is rotatably enclosed in the other and has cavities arranged in the form of recesses in its periphery, these recesses being accessible by turning the enclosed part so that one of its recesses coincides with an opening in the other part. A limited axial movement between both handle parts and between coacting locking means thereon enables these parts to turn respective to each other in an outer axial position, and is locking them against rotation in an inner axial position in the enclosed part.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,667,518 (Stillwagon, Jr., 1972) discloses a hand tool in the form of a screwdriver in which a series of tool bits are stored in longitudinal recesses formed in the outer circumferential surface of the handle. The tool bits are retained in the recesses by an elastic O-ring, and may be easily removed by rolling back the O-ring for snap fitting into the shank portion of the tool.
Exemplary of still other screwdriver tools having bit storage means in their handles are the tools disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,577,651 (Dewey, 1951); 2,022,775 (Holland-Letz, 1935); 1,555,109 (Eliason, 1925); and 10,500 (Chamberlain, 1854).
Despite the large number of hand tools having storage means in the handles thereof which are known in the prior art, none teach or suggest the novel tool of this invention described more fully hereinbelow.